Paulate denies hiring QC ghost employees

ABS-CBN News

MANILA, Philippines -- Actor and incumbent Quezon City Councilor Roderick Paulate denied he is keeping a payroll for ghost employees, dismissing the allegations against him as “politically motivated.”

On the sidelines of the birthday celebration of Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista, Paulate said: “For what ever it is, it’s not true, it’s politically motivated.”

The Office of the Ombudsman earlier filed criminal and administrative charges against Paulate and another councilor Francisco Calalay Jr., for allegedly maintaining “ghost employees.”

The investigation was hinged on the complaint filed by Jimmy Lee Davis, a “QC insider.”

Charges of Malversation of Public Funds through Falsification of Public Documents, Violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act No. 3019 and administrative charges for Grave Misconduct, Serious Dishonesty and Falsification of Official Documents have been filed against the two, as well as their respective liaison officers Flordeliza A. Alvarez and Vicente E. Bajamunde.

In a statement issued by the media bureau of the Ombudsman, Director Edgardo Diansuy said pieces of evidence gathered showed that both maintained “job order personnel” under their respective offices. An investigation from the Ombudsman’s Field Investigation Office showed that these job orders were supposedly fictitious.

Paulate also said it is not true that he has been suspended from his job.